The Necropolis of Saqqara: Three Thousand Years of History in the Desert
The necropolis of Saqqara is the vastest, the most ancient and the most important funerary site in all of Egypt. Extending for about 7 kilometres along the western edge of the Libyan desert, this extraordinary city of the dead served as a burial place for ancient Memphis, capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, for a period spanning over three thousand years of history, from the First Dynasty until the Roman era. Here stands the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the most ancient monumental structure in stone in human history, together with hundreds of pyramids, mastabas, hypogeum tombs and temples that constitute an irreplaceable archive of Egyptian civilization.
Saqqara owes its name to the funerary god Sokar, venerated in the Memphite region since the most remote eras. The site is located about 30 kilometres south of Cairo, on the western bank of the Nile, in a position that in antiquity was strategically connected to the capital Memphis through a network of ceremonial roads and canals. The choice of the western bank for the necropolises was not casual: for the ancient Egyptians, the west was the dwelling of the dead, the place where the sun set to undertake its nocturnal journey through the underworld.
History of the Necropolis
The Origins: First and Second Dynasty
The most ancient burials of Saqqara date back to the First Dynasty (around 3100 BC), at the dawn of unified Egyptian civilization. Large mastabas in mudbrick, belonging to officials and perhaps to the sovereigns themselves of the first dynasties, occupy the northern edge of the necropolis. These tombs, with the characteristic niched facade known as "palace facade", represent the first attempts at monumental funerary architecture and anticipate the grandiose constructions of the Old Kingdom.
Particularly significant are the mastabas discovered by the archaeologist Walter Bryan Emery in the 1930s and 1940s, some of which contain burials of servants sacrificed to accompany the master into the afterlife, a macabre practice that was abandoned after the Second Dynasty.
The Old Kingdom: The Golden Age
The period of maximum splendour of Saqqara coincides with the Old Kingdom (around 2686-2181 BC), when the necropolis became the principal burial place of the royal family and the Memphite elite. The construction of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, around 2667 BC, marked the beginning of the era of the pyramids and transformed Saqqara into the most important architectural construction site of Egypt.
After Djoser, other pharaohs chose Saqqara for their pyramids. The pharaoh Userkaf, founder of the Fifth Dynasty, built his pyramid in the north-eastern corner of Djoser's enclosure. His successors, Sahure, Neferirkare and others, preferred the nearby site of Abusir, but Unas, last sovereign of the Fifth Dynasty, returned to Saqqara building his pyramid immediately to the south of Djoser's complex.
The Pyramid Texts
The pyramid of Unas holds an extraordinary importance in the history of Egyptian religion: its internal walls host the most ancient Pyramid Texts, a collection of religious formulas and spells destined to guide the soul of the pharaoh into the afterlife. These texts, engraved in green hieroglyphs on white walls, represent the most ancient religious literary corpus of humanity and constitute the basis from which the subsequent Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead developed.
The tradition of the Pyramid Texts was continued in the pyramids of the pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty at Saqqara: Teti, Pepi I, Merenra and Pepi II. Each of these pyramids contains slightly different versions of the texts, allowing scholars to trace the evolution of Egyptian religious thought across the centuries.
The Pyramid of Teti
The pyramid of the pharaoh Teti, founder of the Sixth Dynasty, deserves a thorough visit. Although from the exterior it appears as a heap of rubble, the interior is surprisingly well preserved. The burial chamber, clad in white limestone, preserves the basalt sarcophagus of the pharaoh and the walls are covered with magnificently engraved Pyramid Texts. Around the pyramid of Teti are found some of the most beautiful mastabas of the entire necropolis, including those of the viziers Mereruka and Kagemni.
The Great Mastabas
The Mastaba of Mereruka
The mastaba of Mereruka, vizier of the pharaoh Teti, is the largest and the most richly decorated of the entire site of Saqqara. With its 33 rooms arranged on two levels, this tomb is a true funerary palace whose walls are covered with thousands of scenes sculpted in relief that illustrate every aspect of life in ancient Egypt.
The scenes of the mastaba of Mereruka comprise representations of hunting, fishing, agriculture, craftsmanship, music and dance, banquets and religious ceremonies. Of particular interest is a scene that shows hippopotamuses engaged in a fight, considered one of the masterpieces of relief sculpture of the Old Kingdom. Another famous scene shows Mereruka painting the three periods of the year on an easel, one of the rare representations of an artist at work in Egyptian art.
The Mastaba of Kagemni
Adjacent to that of Mereruka, the mastaba of Kagemni, also a vizier of Teti, competes with the first for the quality and the vivacity of the reliefs. The scenes of hunting and fishing are particularly realistic, with extraordinary details in the rendering of the animals and the fluvial landscapes. A famous scene shows a crocodile devouring a newborn hippopotamus, a moment of dramatic naturalistic intensity rare in Egyptian art.
The Mastaba of Ti
The mastaba of Ti, dating back to the Fifth Dynasty, is considered one of the most important monuments of the Old Kingdom for the quality of its reliefs. Ti was a high-ranking official, overseer of the solar temples and of the pyramids of Neferirkare and Niuserra. The walls of his tomb host some of the most famous scenes of daily life of ancient Egypt, including the construction of boats, the working of metals, the harvesting of papyrus and the preparation of food.
The Serapeum
The Catacombs of the Sacred Bulls
The Serapeum of Saqqara is one of the most mysterious and evocative monuments of all of Egypt. Discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1851, it is a vast underground complex of galleries and chambers dug into the rock, destined for the burial of the sacred Apis bulls, considered the living incarnation of the god Ptah, patron of Memphis.
The cult of the Apis bull dates back at least to the First Dynasty and was practised for over three thousand years. When an Apis bull died, its body was mummified with the same care reserved for the pharaohs and deposited in an enormous sarcophagus of granite or basalt within the galleries of the Serapeum. Each sarcophagus weighs between 60 and 80 tonnes, and their transport and positioning in the underground corridors constitutes an engineering enigma still unresolved today.
The Discovery of Mariette
Auguste Mariette came to the Serapeum following a literary clue: the Greek geographer Strabo had mentioned a way flanked by sphinxes that led to the burial place of the sacred bulls. Mariette began to dig in the sand and, after discovering a row of half-buried sphinxes, followed the ceremonial avenue up to the entrance of the catacombs. The discovery of the Serapeum was one of the greatest adventures of nineteenth-century Egyptology and consecrated Mariette as one of the most important archaeologists of his time.
The Recent Discoveries
The Archaeological Rebirth
Saqqara has known an extraordinary archaeological rebirth in recent years. Starting from 2018, a series of sensational discoveries brought the site back to the centre of world attention. The Egyptian archaeological mission led by Zahi Hawass and by Mostafa Waziri brought to light hundreds of intact sarcophagi dating back to the Late Period and to the Ptolemaic era, buried in shafts up to 12 metres deep.
In 2020, the discovery of over 100 sarcophagi in painted wood, perfectly sealed and containing well-preserved mummies, represented one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 21st century. These sarcophagi, dating back to about 2500 years ago, were decorated with coloured scenes of the Book of the Dead and contained amulets, ushabti and other funerary objects.
The Funerary Temple of Queen Nearit
In 2021, the excavations near the pyramid of Teti revealed the funerary temple of Queen Nearit, wife of the pharaoh, previously unknown. The discovery significantly expanded our knowledge of the royal family of the Sixth Dynasty and of the funerary practices of the era.
The Catacombs of the Sacred Animals
In addition to the Serapeum, Saqqara hosts vast catacombs dedicated to other sacred animals: baboons sacred to Thoth, ibises sacred to the same god, falcons sacred to Horus and cats sacred to Bastet. The discovery of millions of animal mummies in these catacombs revealed the enormous scale of the cult of animals in Late and Ptolemaic Egypt.
Tips for the Visit
Planning
Saqqara is a vast site that requires at least half a day for a thorough visit. It is advisable to arrive at opening and to plan a route that includes at least the Step Pyramid, the mastabas of Mereruka and Ti, and the Serapeum. Visitors with more time available will be able to explore also the pyramids of Unas and Teti and the numerous minor tombs.
How to Get There
Saqqara is located about 30 kilometres south of Cairo. The most convenient way to reach it is by taxi or with a rental car. Some organized tours combine the visit of Saqqara with that of Memphis and Dahshur, creating an itinerary that covers the principal sites of the Memphite region.
What to Bring
The site is largely in the open air and offers little shade. Bring water in abundance, sun protection, a hat and comfortable shoes for walking on the sand. To visit the underground tombs it is useful to have a torch, although the majority are equipped with artificial lighting. The terrain can be irregular and some tombs require climbing up and down steep staircases.
Tickets
The general entrance ticket includes access to the majority of the open tombs and to the Step Pyramid. Access to the Serapeum and to some particular tombs requires supplementary tickets. The number of tombs open to the public varies periodically, since the Supreme Council of Antiquities rotates the openings to ensure the conservation of the monuments.
Saqqara is not simply an archaeological site: it is an open book on the history of ancient Egypt, a place where every stone, every relief, every underground corridor tells a story that spans three thousand years of civilization. To visit it means to undertake a journey through time that from the remote past of the first dynasties leads up to the era of the Ptolemies, traversing the most significant moments of the history of humanity.
